Panthers to visit Rochester in 2010?

The Florida Panthers could be making a visit to Rochester prior to the start of the 2010/11 season when the Amerks and Panthers enter the third year of their affiliation agreement. I had read or heard somewhere about this being a possibility so I asked Jacques Martin when he was in Rochester recently and he confirmed it’s something they’d be looking into. It would not be an option for the start of the 2009 season because the Panthers will be opening their season in Helsinki, Finland.

I would think for this to happen that the Buffalo Sabres would have to agree to any type of game within their market.

Why would they be doing this? Try and grow the Panthers brand. The Panthers have had an interest in the Rochester market since 2005 yet very few people care about them or can even name more than a few players on the team.

This is nothing more than idea at this point, but it’s one I’d welcome.

The Panthers need to do one thing before any Amerks fans would welcome them into town and that is to produce a winning environment. If next season is anything like the one that just ended people will be running them out of town instead of welcoming them.